Fears India certification may lead to tyre shortages, unsold stock

Shortages make become an issue within India’s tyre industry following the release of a quality control order by the country’s Department of Commerce. Reporting on the threat, the Business Standard newspaper explains that the order prevents the sale of tyres and tubes in India unless they feature a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark or a certification mark licence is otherwise obtained. The business daily also states industry sources claim the country’s tyre manufacturing industry “has come to a standstill” as it possesses a substantial inventory that cannot be sold without the BIS mark.

Although data on domestic manufacturers’ existing stock levels is not available, sources told the Business Standard that the total number of tyres manufactured in 2010-11 is around 57.2 million units. They added it would take time to have tyres BIS certified as manufacturers first need to establish necessary infrastructure within their plants in order to meet BIS requirements. The Department of Commerce control order, incidentally, does not cover tyres imported by original equipment manufacturers for sale in the replacement market.

The newspaper reports that a number of industry bodies and tyre manufacturers have approached the Bureau of Indian Standards and Department of Commerce for an extension of the order, while others have applied for a stay. Some officials, however, have apparently commented that India’s tyre industry is panicking unnecessarily, as the control order was postponed several times before its introduction and there is thus nothing new about it.